Kansas officially adopts two state fossils

Kansas has a new pair of state symbols after Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law recognizing the Tylosaurus and Pteranodon as state fossils.

The Tylosaurus was a type of mosasaur, a giant reptile that swam the ocean that covered Kansas 85 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period, according to a press release from Kansas University. The Pteranodon, a kind of pterosaur, was a flying reptile that roamed the skies over those oceans and lived on coastal areas in Kansas. Both were predators.

Brownback approved the legislation Friday, after both state houses signed off in March.

“What dinosaurs are to Wyoming and Montana, mosasaurs and pterosaurs are to Kansas,” said Leonard Krishtalka, director of the KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, said in the KU statement.